Good Brand, Bad Brand: Are You Experienced?

Brand experience is so important to the success of a brand.

I was thinking about brand experience in the small town of Lost River, WV this past weekend -and how important brand interactions are.

The Mathias, WV Hardware store is not branded, but has a strong local word of mouth brand – it is positioned by the locals as “The place you go to get exactly what you need”.

I learned this early on, as a DIY city-type trying to fix up a little log cabin on my own. Sure, the trip a half-hour away to Wal-Mart would yield a cheap shop-vac. However if you were trying to do something like convert a claw foot bathtub to modern plumbing, or any other similar DIY challenge, you learned the hard way to spend your money wisely by visiting Charles at Mathias Hardware.

Charles will stop to listen, give you advice, and send you home with exactly what you need. This is a far different experience than wandering around Wal-Mart trying to find hardware on your own, with no guide – only to buy the wrong thing and have to make another trip to return items and start all over. Granted, I realistically don’t expect top service and expertise from Wal-Mart – because I shop there for price.

A Lost River neighbor (from DC) was having issues with his water pump recently. I looked in the crawlspace and watched the attempts to tighten a valve, but not too long to suggest that better tools were needed. The instant thought was – Wal-mart; get something cheap to take care of it. Instead, I suggested a visit to Charles – who favors Cardboard & magic marker signs vs. Happy faces with price points. Truth be told, on the way to Charles, we did stop by a local grocery store know as the local Wal-mart of second-hand tools. The wrenches were not the quality or type needed to open the valve. So we continued on to Mathias for the hardware store, and had a beautiful experience: Charles greeted us, asked about the problem, asked about the valve specifics and then provided the consultation – He didn’t sell the kind of wrench we needed; although he had plenty of others in stock.

My neighbor looked frustrated, as Charles gave us a “hold on” and disappeared into the back room. When he re-appeared, he had a very expensive-looking red wrench that looked like it was perfect for the job. Charles gave the wrench to my neighbor and said “Try this one, and bring it back when you are done.” Long story short, the wrench worked like a dream, my neighbor got water again, and Charles has another loyal customer for life.

I was conveying this story to my friend Beth as an example of true brand loyalty connected with service. The reason? She commented on my red plaid shirt from Faconnable - dredging up my tale of woe for a brand relationship lost.

A frugal friend on Beacon Hill in Boston turned me on to Faconnable. Faconnable is a French brand made popular in the US when Nordstrom’s started carrying this high-quality menswear line. They produced very unique dress shirts that actually fit me - and even though they were really expensive for a college student, they lasted forever. In fact, the red plaid Faconnable shirt Beth had admired was one of my first, purchased in 1991. And for an eighteen year-old shirt, the colors are still bright and the fabric is still in great shape. Even the buttons are still original, a daring feat for one of my favorite shirts.

After graduating from college, I learned the value of saving up for five or six of these shirts per year vs. buying shirts “on-sale” that would end up as dryer lint. I also learned that due to the limited run of these shirts in my size and color preferences, it was helpful to keep in contact with sales reps at Nordstrom’s – to let me know when to stop in. The ultimate was my experience at the King of Prussia Nordstrom’s – where the Faconnable sales rep actually kept detailed notes of my size and style preferences and would e-mail each season if something came in that I might like.

But alas, something happened. I had not heard from my sales rep in a year, so I had not thought there was anything I'd like in the collections. After an inventory of my shirts it was clear that I did need to boost my wardrobe with a few new shirts. Some shirts were getting worn, and needed to be taken out of rotation. It was also apparent that some of the shirts from last season looked more worn than some of the older shirts. After closer inspection, I noticed why… the cuffs and collars were not made the same – the hem tape was made out of an abrasive material; not the same fabric as the shirt, making the wear-and-tear on these parts start from inside the shirt. Yikes! I grabbed a few to bring to Nordstrom’s to show my sales rep.

Driving to KOP, I had great expectations of the helpful consulting waiting for me at the Faconnable counter with my sales rep – although I did not call ahead for an appointment, I figured he would be in on his regular Saturday schedule. When I arrived, I experienced a horrible realization – not only was the quality erroding the brand, but also the one thing that might save my loyalty: the experience. The Faconnable counter was gone, as were the Faconnable sales people. There had been a shift to a new cut and design, and while there were still some classic cut shirts on the floor, after searching for my size for a half hour - with no offer of assistance -I only found one throughout the floor that I liked. I stopped and thought about the Lucky jeans in my hands and the dress shoes I had on my list, and then the disappointment with the lack of service and lack of choice... and did something I have NEVER done at a Nordstrom’s: I left empty handed. I knew I could do better on the jeans and shoes with a simple call to a small shop in Delaware who carry the lines & are very service oriented. But my longstanding loyalty with Faconnable was bruised, and left me at a loss.

Back home, I did some internet research to see who I could contact regarding the demise of my favorite brand. I knew that Nordstrom had purchased the brand in Y2K, but did not realize that Nordstrom’s sold the brand in 2007 to a Lebanese private equity firm – the M1 Group. Despite the wonderful design, the erosion in quality and customer service have left me looking for another quality brand of shirts that have a similar style and that fit me. If only Charles could sew…

I stated that brand experience is so important to the success of a brand. It is the way that a small mom and pop shop can compete with the low prices of Wal-Mart. It is the way that a regional bank can retain clients in an atmosphere of mergers. It is the difference between “customers” and “ loyal customers”. And "lost customers".

It is through each customer experience – with quality and service that a brand continues to flourish or die in the consumer’s mind.